Christmas Market Itinerary - Budapest/Vienna/Salzburg/Regensburg

Since you are huge SOM fans, do one of the tours! We used Bob's Special Tours and did the classic SOM tour which was excellent! They use a mini van, so you only have the guide and about 6 or 7 people.

Another fun thing we did in Salzburg was the Edelweiss Cooking School. We did the strudel/cookie class and it was so much fun! During the holiday season, Bob's partners with them and you can do both in one day. I don't think that option shows just yet though on the booking form.

In case you are looking for a hotel, we loved the Alstadtholtel Weisse Taube. It was right around the corner from the markets, yet on a very quiet street. This was December 2022, and it was myself, my daughter and our son's girlfriend. Beautiful hotel, and we loved everything about it!

Thank you so much! The tour is most definitely on our list! I will take a look at the cooking school too- that sounds right up our alley. We're trying to stick to budget accommodations so we can splurge more on the markets and experiences, but will check out that hotel too.

Thanks again,

PQ

Regarding the budget, we ate our dinners at the markets. It added to the experience, and our dinners were about 10 euros each.
Have a magical time!

That hotel was not expensive, but I know that term is relative. We were splitting the cost 3 ways, and the girls were trying to keep it more budget and approved this;). Breakfast was expensive, so we skipped that, but we warned that most breakfast places are either hotel type breakfasts so a higher cost, or they did not open (even Starbucks) before our tour left. Since we opted out of the breakfast at the hotel, we were searching for a place and finally ended up at another hotel breakfast that was great, but expensive. The host knew we were rushed for time and was happy to accommodate us. It was fantastic, but would have been even better if we had gone earlier and had time. So keep that in mind no matter where you stay, and maybe get some yogurts etc for in the room the morning of.

I have done the same route on a Christmas 22. I would take a day from Vienna and Salzburg and do Munich at the end. If you need hotels let me know.

It's all a bit tight. Not a criticism cause everyone is different and enjoys different stuff. Do consider:

BUDAPEST:

Day 1, Night 2.
Arrive 2pm, at Hotel at 3pm, cleaned up and forcing yourself out at 4pm. End up with early dinner and back to hotel at 8pm exhausted so first day in Budapest is 4 hours.

Day 2, Night 2.
You sleep in a bit ause you still have jet lag, but hit the markets by 10am and you work in a trip to the Market Hall and Parliament and ride the 2 tram. Early, still jet lagged dinner, home by 9pm

Day 3, Night 3.
Fully recovered and you do the Obuda Market and run up to the Castle District. Night out on town and you are home at 10:36

Day 4. Morning train to Vienna

Missed? 50% of what most folks go to Budapest to see and do. 1 more full day would make a huge difference. You need at least one evening of culture too.

VIENNA, not one of my favorite cities, but to be fair, at Christmas I would need all 4 nights without Bratislava.

Again, not saying your plans are bad. Just thinking out loud.

theplanningqueen, what is your budget for budget accommodations? Maybe I have some ideas.

@Lifetime, while I can understand the desire to add Munich, I think I'm already pushing it with the timeline as is and am trying to include Regensburg as a smaller city choice after having been to a few much larger ones.

Mr. E, appreciate the feedback. I've found that we tend to not have an interest in some things that others consider a must do, so I'm hoping our interests could be covered but I realize we may not see everything we'd like to. We've never been that far East so this would give us a good taste of something a little further outside our box and if we love it, then thats reason to come back! I might consider flying into Munich and out of Budapest if schedules and prices align though, which would give me a few more hours on that first day (we tend to take very early trains when switching cities). It would take a half day from Regensburg but maybe that's worth it?

As for budget, ideally we'd be under 125 euros a night across all cities, which I realize probably means being well below that in Budapest and Regensburg to give more allowance for the more expensive Vienna and Salzburg. We're not into airbnb or similar and would prefer a basic hotel that's central, safe and clean.

Thanks for your help, I'm sure I'll have many more questions!

PQ

Let me see if I can hunt down a good 100 euro hotel in Budapest in December. I have one good idea. Or there are Airbnb if you are interested. They will average about 80 euro a night

EDIT
Here are some to look at. And if you find some hotels or aribnb's that are interesting, send me the information and maybe I can tell you about the neighborhood.

Medosz Hotel Budapest
Hilton Garden Inn Budapest City Centre
Ambra
Andrássy Thai Hotel
Hotel Moments (probably not, but worth the look)

Just adding that my friends and I really enjoyed the Eidelweiss Cooking School also - and I don’t usually do things like that. I had already taken the Bob’s SoM tour so this time we did the Panorama tour and they partner with the cooking school also.

Mr E,

Those hotels look great, thank you! Especially like the look and price of the Holiday Inn and the Ambra. Is one a better location than the other?

TTM, was the Panorama tour a SOM tour as well? If so, was Panorama or Bob's better? I checked out Panorama and their combo SOM/salt mine tour looks pretty fantastic.

Anyone have thoughts on the 2 nights in Regensburg and leaving for the Munich Airport from there?

Thank you all so much. While we have 3 Europe trips under our belt now, this would be the first with multiple countries and a more significant language barrier so I will take all the help I can get!

PQ

Yes, both Panorama and Bob’s do a SoM tour. You can do various combinations. I think I enjoyed the Bob’s Tour more - it was a smaller group. Not sure if that is always the case or not. The Panorama is a big bus. Both have merits. Since we were going to the salt mine in Hallstatt, we chose the combo with the cooking class this time.

Best by location ( but all pretty gòod)
First. Moments or Andrassy Thai
Second, Medosz
Third, Hilton Garden Inn Budapest City Centre
Fourth, Ambra

I looked at the Panorama one but did not want to be on a big bus, which was the only option when we went. Bob's only uses minivans, so that was what we were looking for. It just depends on what you want of course.

After much research, we are now leaning towards cutting Regensburg and making it an even split 4-4-4 between Budapest, Vienna, and Salzburg. Which direction will depend on flights.

Any reason to not skip Regensburg given everything else? Adding nights isn't doable really.

Our next question is the timing of the trip. It seems that both Budapest and Vienna historically start their market season earlier than other places, but without confirmed dates it's tricky to book flights. Ideally we'd like to go as early in the season as possible (mid-November?) so we can also enjoy our traditions at home.

Any thoughts on what time frame we'd be pretty safe to book flights for to not be there before the markets open? Is one direction better than the other for this?

Thanks again everyone!!

PQ

For the timing of the Vienna markets, refer to this helpful site - https://www.visitingvienna.com/sights/christmasmarkets/when-open/

For Salzburg, I hope that you make time to visit Hellbrunn Palace, which has my all-time favorite Christmas market, and to visit the markets of Wolfgangsee (St. Gilgen, St. Wolfgang and Strobl). The Wolfgangsee markets will be a good village substitute for Regensburg (not a village, I know, but smallish).

in 2023 the Budapest market at Vorosmarty ter and the Basilica opened on Friday the 17th of November. So that would be Friday the 15th of November in 2024. But "stuff" happens so I would plan on no earlier than Saturday the 16th.

By itself Vurnba has about 25 Christmas markets so it’s impossible to hit them all in any realistic way.

The Christmas markets in Budapest were not as extravagant but they did have a unique white hot wine. But I don’t really think it’s a major attraction to go all the way there just for that.

I think the Christmas markets in Prague are fun and there’s a lot of good food to be had.

I had a good time in Christmas markets and Innsbrook Austria .

Nurenberg also has some good Christmas markets.

I was in Munich one time and saw their Christmas markets. It’s a big city and there’s a lot of them spread all over. But it just reminded me of New York City bed. It was just a little bit too much and didn’t really feel special.

There’s also the most famous Christmas market in France, which is in Strasburg, but it’s kind of polished and sedate

I enjoy the Christmas Markets, but for me they are more about the atmosphere in the city than anything else. I mean, just how many days foes it take to walk thru the markets? My stays in cities tend to ve a bit longer so the question for me would be how good are the markets, how much do they add to the Christmas experience in the city and how is the city as a whole for Christmas.

Re Regensburg: I loved it, but based on your description of what you like to do, I’d say you can skip it. It would make your trip more relaxing and reduce your travel time, which is important on a shortish trip.

Regensburg is quite small and does not have blockbuster sites. I prefer smaller cities, towns and villages, and I found Regensburg to be beautiful, especially the Christmas decorations. The markets were not even open yet, but it was fun to see them setting up. For me the markets are all about the Christmas ambience; I wasn’t particularly interested in shopping.

If you do decide to go to Regensburg… I forget how far it is from Munich. Less than two hours I would guess. However, with a morning flight, I generally prefer to stay at an airport hotel the night before.

I think you will really like Salzburg. We went there first on our Christmas market trip — left the day after Thanksgiving and the markets were open when we got there. Bob’s SOM tour was a lot of fun.

I haven’t been to Budapest or Vienna, but I had a trip planned there for November 2020. We decided to end in Budapest because the markets open early there. That trip wasn’t a Christmas market trip, but I thought it would be fun to end with Christmas markets right before Thanksgiving. (We were coming home a couple of days before Thanksgiving.) Still hope to take that trip some day.

Regensburg has one of the best Christmas Markets that I have been to in Europe. It is a private market on the grounds of the Thun and Taxis castle. It is an atmospheric Medieval market with authentic food, hand made crafts and activities. There is an entrance fee, but it is worth it, especially to enjoy the night with lamps and candles glowing, musicians playing and few people on the winding paths through the trees. I have been three times!

I always suspect ulterior motive behind these sorts of lists, but the do provide a “list” to start research from.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanneshurvell/2022/12/08/europes-best-christmas-markets-for-2022-number-one-is-budapest/?sh=661ff9613535

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-christmas-markets-in-europe

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-christmas-markets-in-europe

https://www.europeanbestdestinations.com/christmas-markets/

https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/best-christmas-markets-in-europe